很久以前看到的妙文一篇^_^翻译出来，与众分享。之前发于weibo。

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/ben_macintyre/article7129129.ece

Cameron and Clegg: who is more upper crust?
卡梅伦和克莱格，谁更“上等”？

“IT is most odd,” said my friend, a Frenchman now living, like most sensible Frenchmen, in London. “Your country has given birth to twins. This Cameron and Clegg, he is the same person, no? They are both, how you say, posh?”

“看起来真古怪，”我的一位法国朋友说。如同多数明智的法国人，他住在伦敦。
“你们国家选出一对双胞胎啦。这个卡梅伦和克莱格，其实是一个吧？他们都……像你说的，上等（posh）？”

“Yes,” I explained. “But they are different sorts of posh.”
He looked confused: “But both went to private school, both are rich, both are sons of financiers. Even the hair is similar.”

“是的。但那是不同形式的上等。”
他疑惑了：“但他们都进私校，都有钱，都是金融家的富二代出身。就连发型都很像。”

“True,” I conceded. “But they are not the same species of posh. David Cameron is Eton-Oxford-country-clubby-cutglass-shooting party sort of posh, whereas Nick Clegg is Westminster-Cambridge-metropolitan-foreign-glottal stop-trustfund sort of posh. Cameron is upper-upper-middle class with a dash of English gentry, but Clegg is middle-upper-middle class with a hint of European aristocracy. These are quite different things.”

“没错，”我承认，“但他们不是同一种形式的上等。卡梅伦是伊顿-牛津-乡村-俱乐部会员-cut-glass 口音）-射击聚会式的上等，而克莱格是威斯敏斯特-剑桥-都会-海外-glottal stop口音-信托基金式的上等。卡梅伦是走一点英式名门风的上-上-中层，克莱格是带一点欧陆贵族气的中-上-中层。这是很不一样的东西。”

（这一段里每一个词都可以做论文啊！）

From the look on his bemused Gallic face, I could see I was not getting through. So I started from basics.

看到他那张困惑的高卢脸，我知道我解释得不够明白。于是我从最基本的讲起。

In British society there are not three classes but an infinite variety of sub-classes, governed by a multiplicity of minute distinctions, invisible and incomprehensible to anyone outside the system. These are partly dependent on wealth, geography and education, but also on lineage, accent, pastimes, parsimony and where you buy your shoes.

不列颠社会绝非仅有上中下三个阶层，它还包括无数的次阶层和子阶层，种种繁琐而细微的区别，对于任何体系外的人，都是看不见、摸不着也是全然无法理解的。它部分取决于你的财产、住址和教育，但也和你的家谱、口音、娱乐方式、俭省与否、在哪买你的鞋子等等息息相关。

In France, there are just two classes: the ruling and the ruled. In Britain, as pointed out by former deputy prime minister John Prescott, there is only one class, the middle, to which all belong. All members of the middle class are equal, but some are more equal than others.

法国就两个阶层：统治者和被统治者。在不列颠，如前副首相约翰·普雷斯科特所指出的，只存在一个容纳了所有人的中等阶层。所有中等阶层的成员都是平等的，不过其中一些比另一些更加平等。

“Aha,” said my French friend, Frenchly. “Then who is more grand, Cameron or Clegg? Who is plus posh?”

“啊哈，”我的法国朋友非常法国式的笑了，“那么，卡梅伦和克莱格，谁更强一点？哪一个更加上等？”

This is a tricky question, and one worthy of Anthony Powell, the great observer and chronicler of the English class system. An insatiable snob, Powell understood better than any other novelist, with the possible exception of Evelyn Waugh, the minute gradations of British class and social placement that once separated, say, a baronet who has joined the middle class from a self-made peer who buys his own furniture.

这是一个棘手的问题，值得安东尼·鲍威尔，这位英国等级体系的伟大观察者和编年史家探讨的问题。身为一位不知足的势利眼，鲍威尔对英国等级的理解比其他任 何小说家都强，伊夫林·沃可能是个例外，他知道，一位属于中等阶级的从男爵在不列颠阶级和社会地位上微妙地优先于一位白手起家获封的从男爵。后者的家具还 都是新买的。

The drawing of such distinctions, not just between but also within classes, is a peculiarly British urge. As Robert Cecil once wrote: “Directly Man has his most elementary material wants, the first aspiration of his amiable heart is for the privilege of being able to look down on his neighbours.” So who, in the new Cameron-Clegg menage, is looking down on whom? Which was born with the longer silver spoon?

对这种阶级内、而不是阶级间的差异刻画是一种鲜明的不列颠特色。如同罗伯特·塞西尔勋爵所说：“人类一旦满足其最基本的生存需要后，他的第一个愿望便是高高在上地俯视他的邻居。”于是，在新出炉的卡梅伦-克莱格的配对中，谁可以俯视另一个？谁衔着更长的银汤匙降生的？

Cameron would seem to be posher, genealogically. He is a descendant of William IV and distantly related to the Queen. His mother is the daughter of a baronet. His mother-in-law is a viscountess. Samantha Cameron is authentic old money county posh, being the eldest daughter of Reginald Adrian Berkeley Sheffield, 8th baronet and a descendant of Charles II.

翻翻家谱，卡梅伦看起来更上等。他是威廉四世的后代，女王陛下的远亲。他的母亲是一位从男爵的女儿。他的岳母是一位子爵夫人。萨曼莎·卡梅伦是正宗的乡村老钱，雷金纳德·阿德里安·伯克利·谢菲尔德八世从男爵的长女，查尔斯二世的后裔。

（所谓的后代和后裔，统统都是国王的私生子。不过，卡梅伦的近祖已掺入德裔银行家的血，卡梅伦夫人看起来似乎比卡梅伦先生还“上等”：见wiki，中学 就读于牛津郡阿宾顿的圣海伦与圣凯瑟琳私立女校和威尔特郡马尔博罗学院——教会背景，曾经只招男生的一所私校，丘吉尔家族的爵号是马尔博罗公爵。大学在坎 伯威尔艺术学院学习艺术基础课程，随后在西英格兰大学分属创造艺术学院学习美术——不当盐不当酱不为谋生地选择文艺社科专业，是一项特权，否则就等着沦为 99%吧——然后在学校里，通过卡梅伦的妹妹认识了未来夫君和首相。）

But there is blueish blood in the Clegg veins too. His grandmother was a White Russian baroness. His great uncle was clubbed to death by his own peasants, which carries a certain aristo-cachet. His great aunt was a spy: it is well known that before about 1992 MI6 did not recruit anyone who was not directly out of the top drawer. On the other hand, his ancestors on the other side were Dutch colonial entrepreneurs: yes, trade.

不过，克莱格的血管里也流着纯正的蓝血。他的祖母是一位白俄男爵夫人，他的舅公被自己的农奴乱棍打死，这也算是一种贵族的标志。他的姨婆是一名间谍：众所 周知，在1992年前，MI6 才不会从最上层以外录用职员。另一方面，他的父系祖先是荷兰的殖民地实业家：是的，生意人。

（被农奴乱棍打死——类比法国贵族的断头台XP关于间谍的部分很神……）

Cameron’s manners are exquisitely upper-class. Unlike Clegg, who did not hesitate to barge in during the televised debates, Cameron fell silent when interrupted, and when asked to be quiet, was. This may explain why he did not triumph in the debates.

卡梅伦的风度是全然上流的。像克莱格那样、在电视争论中毫不迟疑地抢话插嘴，卡梅伦是做不来的，被别人打断时，他就说不下去了，当别人叫他安静时，他就真的沉默了。这或许可以解释，为何他在争论中每每处于下风。

（好乖好可怜的卡梅伦……不过，据说他已适应到可在别人叫嚣时强硬地说下去了）

Cameron is said to enjoy shooting pheasants, whereas the closest Clegg has come to blood sports is at the Liberal Democrat annual conference. “Eton and Oxford” still sounds immeasurably grander than “Westminster and Cambridge”, which sounds merely clever. Cameron is clubbable (Whites, the Bullingdon) in a way that Clegg is not.

据说，卡梅伦喜欢在狩猎季节打野鸡，而克莱格所从事的最血腥的运动就是参加自由民主党的年会。“伊顿和牛津”听起来就是比“威斯敏斯特和剑桥”庄严无数倍，后者的感觉仅是比较聪明而已。卡梅伦是玩俱乐部的（比如布灵顿），克莱格，否。

Cameron eats fish and chips and enjoys reading cheap paperbacks, which is itself a mark of extreme poshness. Only the very grand are instinctively frugal, as demonstrated by this week’s revelation that the Queen Mother rented a television set for her Scottish castle.

卡梅伦吃炸鱼薯条读廉价的平装书，这也是非常上等的标志。真正的大人物是发自本能地节俭的，比如本周报导所透露的，皇太后为她的苏格兰城堡租了一台电视机。

Clegg’s accent is fluent BBC, with a hint of the Estuary twang perfected by Tony Blair (lower-upper-middle class). Cameron’s accent, according to friends, used to be rather more “fruity and patrician” – his vowels have grown flatter as he has ascended higher.

克莱格的口音是流利的BBC风格，带点Tony Blair风味的湾区鼻音。顺便，布莱尔是下-上-中层。卡梅伦的口音曾是更加“饱满和贵族化”的，不过，随着他的步步高升，他的元音渐渐变平

George Orwell once said of Winston Churchill that the prime minister was “too old to have acquired the modern ‘educated’ accent . . . he speaks with the Edwardian upper-class twang which to the average man’s ear sounds like Cockney”. Today, Clegg has the “educated” accent and Cameron the Edwardian remnants; to the average man (and Frenchman), they sound identical.

乔治奥威尔曾说，丘吉尔这位首相，“已经太老，说不出一口现代的‘经过教育’的口音了……他那仍属于爱德华时期的上层阶级腔调，在一般人听来，就是老伦敦 东区口音。”如今，克莱格有着“经过教育”的口音，卡梅伦还带着爱德华时代的残余，不过，对于一般人（和法国人），都是一样的。

And that, finally, is the point. Clegg and Cameron occupy very slightly different niches on the social spectrum, but it matters not a jot. The election result has offered conclusive evidence that voters know there are more important considerations than where someone went to school, how they speak and whether they like to kill animals at the weekend.

最后是结论。克莱格和卡梅伦，在社会光谱上占据了不同而差别甚小的位置，但它无关紧要。选举结果提供了确凿的证据，比起某人上哪所学校、如何说话和周末是否残杀生灵，选民有着更重要的考量。

Peter Mandelson, among others, tried to get the class war going by insisting that Cameron was looking down his “rather long toffee nose”.
也有人持不同意见，比如彼得·曼德尔森，就坚称卡梅伦一直在用他老派的长鼻子俯瞰众生，以延续一场阶级之战。

But it failed to ignite, for the same reason that the Clegg-Cameron alliance will be seen not as some upper-class, public school conspiracy but as a genuine transformation of the political landscape. British social distinctions are now merely interesting, rather than important.
We are still conscious of class, without being paralysed by class consciousness.

不过战争没有点燃，出于同样的原因，人们不会把克莱格-卡梅伦的联合视为上层阶级、公立学校的阴谋，而是一个政治格局的真正转型。如今，不列颠社会的区分仅是个有趣的话题，而不再有重要的意义。
我们仍然有阶级意识，但不再被阶级的意识所束缚。

“I think I get it,” said my French friend. “These two people are posh in different ways, but it makes no difference.”
“Voila!”
“How very English.”

“我想我明白了，”我的法国朋友说，“这两个人以不同的方式上等，不过没有区别。 ”
“Voila！”（You’ve got it！）
“可真英国派呀。”

The Times